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Average Labour Cost/Price to Fit/Change a Light fitting (Electricians' Rates)

To clarify the following prices it is recommended that you read the article in the INFORMATION box below the PRICES…(These prices are based on a tradesman’s rate of £150.00 per day and a labourer if required at £100.00 per day. This includes the cost of buying and collecting any materials, dumping any waste if necessary and any incidental materials they will need. The minimum price will usually be for a half day)

How Much Does it Cost To Change a Light Fitting?

These prices are based on an electrician’s rate of £200 per day and a labourer if required at £100 per day. They include the cost of buying and collecting any materials, dumping any waste if necessary and any incidental materials they will need. (The minimum price will usually be for a half day)Job 1Why not?....Lets have a 6 lamp grid in your 12’ x 10’ (3.6m x 3m) kitchen but it must be symmetrical and the room above has a laminate floor. That’s the ceiling gone then!

This will take 2 men 2.5 days at £200 per day. (They are “competent scheme members”) You are providing the lights ( £18---£90), the testing shows no faults.

A plasterer mate will come in and do the new ceiling for them for £100.00

Materials £75, Plasterer £100, Labour £400 £1175.00

Job 2Same job from room above which you have completely cleared out you and will return everything. You are providing the light fittings.

This will take our friends 1.5 days

Materials £15, Labour £600 £615.00

If they are stripping and returning the room above £200.00

If a carpet fitter is used £40.00

Job 3Your wife wants 4 dimmed wall lights in the living room. There are no mouldings around the ceiling edge.

You will supply the units and switch and you want a pair on one wall and a pair opposite them.

This will take them 1.5 days assuming the test shows no existing faults but their plasterer mate will need to be called back again. This assumes that you are “doing” the room above as before. They will cover and clean up the living room.

Materials £20, Plasterer £100, Labour £500, £620.00

Right then, a good job well done. Now all you have to do is spend the next 3 weekends re decorating!Job 4If it’s a straightforward “like for like” either ceiling or wall lamp, then he will be gone in half an hour but he will probably charge solicitors' rates! (but, at least you will be getting something tangible for your dosh)…..£65.00Job 5If he has to clear a bedroom, take up a board, fit a plate, put it all back again, he’ll charge you a day + materials…….£230.00

If the bathroom has to be ripped out, forget it and buy yourself a torch!

Fitting Downlights

Job 6Let’s assume you want to fit 4 mains downlights into a plasterboard dining room ceiling and they all go exactly where you want them to and the work can be done from the bedroom above. You are supplying the lights and dimmer.

Anyway, it’s a day and a half’s work with a labourer to strip the bedroom, lift the boards, wire and fit the 4 downlights and put the room back…. £450.00

Job 7The easiest 4 downlight installation is in a bedroom where loft access is available and the loft has not been boarded. For this expect to pay……… £175.00

Simple mains downlights will cost £30.00 for four, while a low voltage light will set you back £25.00 per lamp kit (inc. light fitting, bulb and transformer).

A Price Guide and Information Sheet on Replacing a Light Fitting

There are legalities to observe here. They are numerous, complicated and very often ignored! A comprehensive breakdown can be found in our section under Electrics. You really should read it before you have any electrical work undertaken.In a nutshell, if the light is in a “wet room”, then all sorts of processes should be followed. Small jobs in other areas are not so rigorously governed.

So, let’s assume the legalities are sorted and you want to replace that old central ceiling light with a dangly, glittery, multi bulb glass affair.

Taking the old one down and exposing all the wiring will be no problem. Nor will wiring up the new unit. Problems will arise when the chap considers how the new unit, if it is even remotely heavy, is to be fixed and suspended. Ceilings are fragile, usually plasterboard, or nasty crumbly Victorian lath and plaster affairs. They are not made to support anything more than themselves and that light fitting you have at the moment.

He may have to go in the loft and fix a timber plate between the joists, or worse take a bedroom or bathroom floorboard up to do the same. On the “disruption to your sanity” scale, this will vary from “that’s a bit annoying” to “get out of my house you maniac”, depending on whether the flooring is carpet or a there is a new floating wooden floor with a ball and claw bath on top of it.

You may get lucky of course and there’s a handy joist right above the new fixing position. If this happens, rush out and get a lottery ticket, you are seriously on a roll!

The point is, you won’t know any of this until he starts the job. Maybe you should do a little exploratory first, or literally, weigh up the fitting you want before you splash out.

Downlights are very popular at the moment. They spread the light evenly and give a “clean” unfussy look to a room – especially good when trying to de-personalise a house for selling!

The cost of buying the lights themselves is relatively inexpensive. Both low voltage (strictly speaking this should be “extra low voltage”, but no need to go into that) and mains voltage lamps are available. Low voltage lamps come with a transformer and give a very white light. Whereas the mains voltage ones are wired directly into the lighting circuit and give a “yellow” light.

Both have their virtues, I prefer the light of low voltage in kitchens and bathrooms, where a more clinical look is preferred. Yet I prefer the warmer glow of the mains lamps in all other living areas.

I strongly recommend dimmer switches for everywhere (except bathrooms) where a bright light is preferred.

A small note here to say that mains voltage lamps can be dimmed with a standard dimmer switch, while low voltage require an electronic dimmer switch. In my experience these electronic dimmers buzz and this is often unacceptable to customers. So my rule is, if you want to dim, use mains lamps, if not, use low voltage.